Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Pisa, Italy; UniCamillus - Saint Camillus University of Health Sciences, Rome, Italy.
Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, Catholic University, Rome, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jun 15;773:145182. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145182. Epub 2021 Jan 21.
Converging data would indicate the existence of possible relationships between climate change, environmental pollution and epidemics/pandemics, such as the current one due to SARS-CoV-2 virus. Each of these phenomena has been supposed to provoke detrimental effects on mental health. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to review the available scientific literature on these variables in order to suggest and comment on their eventual synergistic effects on mental health. The available literature report that climate change, air pollution and COVID-19 pandemic might influence mental health, with disturbances ranging from mild negative emotional responses to full-blown psychiatric conditions, specifically, anxiety and depression, stress/trauma-related disorders, and substance abuse. The most vulnerable groups include elderly, children, women, people with pre-existing health problems especially mental illnesses, subjects taking some types of medication including psychotropic drugs, individuals with low socio-economic status, and immigrants. It is evident that COVID-19 pandemic uncovers all the fragility and weakness of our ecosystem, and inability to protect ourselves from pollutants. Again, it underlines our faults and neglect towards disasters deriving from climate change or pollution, or the consequences of human activities irrespective of natural habitats and constantly increasing the probability of spillover of viruses from animals to humans. In conclusion, the psychological/psychiatric consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, that currently seem unavoidable, represent a sharp cue of our misconception and indifference towards the links between our behaviour and their influence on the "health" of our planet and of ourselves. It is time to move towards a deeper understanding of these relationships, not only for our survival, but for the maintenance of that balance among man, animals and environment at the basis of life in earth, otherwise there will be no future.
汇集的数据表明，气候变化、环境污染和传染病/大流行（如当前由 SARS-CoV-2 病毒引起的传染病）之间可能存在关联。这些现象中的每一个都被认为会对心理健康产生不利影响。因此，本文的目的是回顾关于这些变量的现有科学文献，以提出并评论它们对心理健康的潜在协同作用。现有文献报告称，气候变化、空气污染和 COVID-19 大流行可能会影响心理健康，从轻度负面情绪反应到全面的精神疾病，具体包括焦虑和抑郁、应激/创伤相关障碍和物质滥用。最脆弱的群体包括老年人、儿童、妇女、有预先存在的健康问题（特别是精神疾病）的人、正在服用某些类型药物（包括精神药物）的人、社会经济地位较低的人以及移民。很明显，COVID-19 大流行揭示了我们生态系统的所有脆弱性和弱点，以及我们无法保护自己免受污染物的侵害。它再次强调了我们在应对气候变化或污染导致的灾害、或人类活动对自然栖息地的影响时的失误和疏忽，并且不断增加病毒从动物传播到人类的可能性。总之，目前似乎不可避免的 COVID-19 大流行的心理/精神后果，代表了我们对我们的行为及其对我们星球和自身“健康”的影响之间联系的误解和漠不关心的尖锐警示。现在是时候更深入地了解这些关系了，这不仅是为了我们的生存，也是为了维护人类、动物和环境之间的平衡，这是地球生命的基础，否则就没有未来。
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